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7x12 clarke cl300m lathe - changing tool post making milling machine!
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raynerd:
Hi Guys

I`m new on here - will post another thread in the "introductions" sub-forum shortly. I am 25 y/o and have always been interested in metalwork - about 5 years ago I owned a Unimat 3 with milling attachment which was an excellent machine but I had to sell a couple of years ago to fund my wedding. I have since got a house, daughter.... and when I came to look at buying one back on ebay - the price shocked me for what it is! They seem to have increased in further in price so I decided to plunge for a second-hand Asian-made lathe - UK branded the Clarke cl300m.

I have been using it for the last few weeks but I am really missing a milling machine. I use to use the Milling attachment on the Unimat 3 quite often and it was an excellent addition for the small cost. Not very rigid but dd the job. It was also good for space, my work area is not large so an additional milling machine takes up even more room!

Has anyone created or Modified a 7x12 to include a milling machine or attachment? I have seen this on the gadget builder website:

http://www.gadgetbuilder.com/PostMiller.jpg

QUOTE from site:
"I added a Phase II AXA 100 QCTP. This toolpost looks huge on the minilathe and it makes a huge difference to the way the lathe operates: easy tool height adjustment, less tool chatter, a nice boring bar holder, and a simple mount for the cutoff tool. In addition, it's easy to add a vise to do simple milling: bolt a 3 inch length of 1/2 inch bar to a small vise, then mount the bar in the tool holder. The height is crudely adjustable using the tool height adjustment of the toolpost. An advantage to this setup is that it takes only seconds to shift from lathe to milling operations. The downside to the new toolpost (and there's always a downside) is that it restricts the size of items which can be turned due to its sheer size; I added the modified compound rest from LMS to help accommodate this and eventually modified the cross slide to allow more range.""

Does anyone think this is a good route to go down - the new tool post alone costs $150 from the USA but does anyone know a similar UK product?
Can any suggest an alternative cheap mini mill to look out for if you think it isn`t worth going down this route.

Thanks for any help.

Chris
Darren:
Hi Chris and welcome to the forum  :thumbup:

I have a similar, but much smaller, toolpost on my 7x12..

Not sure how it would cope with milling as I don't have the need to try it, probably be fine

As a toolpost I wouldn't want to be without it now....got mine from LMS in the US,

http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=1001.15
sbwhart:
Hi Chris Welcome aboard  :wave:

Is that Clarke 300 a 3 in 1 machine if so I used one for about 5 years i found the milling head OK I did some great work on it but it had  limitations, I,ve recently bought a Seige mill and converted my 3 in 1 to just a 1 in 1 if that makes sence, in hind sight I wish I'd gone the lathe with a mill route. I think the add on attachements to enable you to mill on a lathe are OK but they have their limitations but if your stuck for space/cash you can still produce good work off them, after all our grandfathers didn't have the kit available to them that we have today and they did some magic work.

Have fun

and lets see some pics of your projects  :worthless:

Stew
bogstandard:
Hi Chris, welcome to our little group.

As far as I know, your lathe comes under the same generic category as the Seig 3, shown here.

http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalogue/Machines-Accessories/Lathes/Model-C3-Mini-Lathe

If you go down the page a little, it shows  some 'extras' you can get to fit this lathe.

The first one you will come across which you should be interested in is the vertical slide (C3 Milling Attachment). This little bit of kit does what you showed in your link, but a lot better.
I would just like to add, a vertical slide will never replace a proper mill, but it does allow you to get the same sort of results, but at a reduced speed.

The other is the quick change toolpost, which is very reasonably priced and comes with 3 holders already, with the option to buy more when they come back in stock.

Both these bits together will come to about the same price as the QCTP from LMS, by the time you add very bad exchange rate at the moment, shipping and import duty.

http://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=2461&category=-419988835

Hope this helps.

John

raynerd:
bogstandard - thank you so much for the link - I didn`t expect anyone in the UK to supply us with these "extra" extras! They even do the ball turner..!


Just to clarify then, with the vertical slide-milling attachment, you are basically using your lathe head stock as the milling machine and milling horizonally rather than normal vertical?

On an additional note, C3 Quick Change Tool Post Set - is that the tool post? How will it compare to the QCTP in my original post?


--- Quote from: sbwhart on April 15, 2009, 05:33:15 AM ---Hi Chris Welcome aboard  :wave:

Is that Clarke 300 a 3 in 1 machine if so I used one for about 5 years

Stew

--- End quote ---

Stew - no the clarke 300 is not a 3 in 1 - just a stand alone 7x12 asian made mini-lathe. I don`t really have room or the money for a mill and that is why I am thinking that this route of the Milling Attachment - vertical slide that bogstandard posted may be a route worth going down!

Chris
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